


Becoming Part II

by Eilowyn



Series: Felicity Watches TV. Everyone Else Deals. [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen, The Great Angel vs. Spike Debate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 03:39:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2333909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eilowyn/pseuds/Eilowyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While staying with Felicity, Roy gets roped into a re-watch of one of her favorite shows. She has some opinions about it, and Roy overthinks television for the first time. Vague spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 2 and the entire Whedonverse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Becoming Part II

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LaDemonessa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaDemonessa/gifts).



> I had such a great response to The Rains of Castamere that I've decided to make a series about Team Arrow watching television with Felicity. I'm going to grad school for television studies (they now call it 'screen studies' but whatever), so I've watched and analyzed a lot of TV over the years. This one goes to one of my first beloved television shows, and all opinions are really mine, but I think Felicity would think the same way I do. Hard truths about Angel are mentioned.
> 
> Nothing is mine except for Felicity's opinions. If I were Joss, however, we would be getting a Black Widow movie. Because the world needs a Black Widow movie.

_Angelus’s eyes flash golden as the soul is returned._

_“Buffy? What’s going on? Where are we?”_ _It is Angel speaking now_.

 _Buffy’s eyes go wide._

_“Angel?”_

_“You’re hurt. Oh, Buffy… God. I… I feel like I haven’t seen you in months. Oh, my god, everything’s so muddled. I… oh. Oh, Buffy… what’s happening?”_

_Tears fall from Buffy’s eyes._

_“Shh… Don’t worry about it.”_

_She tilts her head to kiss him, one last time._

_“I love you,” she says._

_“I love you,” he echoes._

_“Close your eyes.”_

_With that whisper, she kisses him again and plunges the sword into his heart._

_“Buffy…” There is confusion and betrayal in his voice, though the love and trust remains._

_A flash of light and a whirlwind portal open up, sucking Angel into the hell dimension Acathla opened up. The lights quickly disappear, and all that is left is the statue of the stone demon._

“Felicity?”

Roy’s voice is worried. She sobs quietly, clutching a throw blanket around her body and up to her face. She sits on the other side of the couch in a fetal position, eyes glued to the television. 

A Sarah Maclachlan song begins to play in the background. Roy turns from Felicity back to the screen, where Buffy watches her friends from afar before taking a bus out of Sunnydale.

“Um, Blondie, you okay?”

The small sobs continue.

He knew staying at Felicity’s place while he was in between apartments meant watching television with her. It meant sitting there while she got overly emotional about fictional characters.

Oliver had warned him, but he didn’t expect it to be this bad. 

“C’mon, Felicity. Talk to me.”

“It’s not like I even like Angel.” Her voice is small, still clouded with tears, but there’s a hint of anger behind her words.

“What?”

“Angel is broody and tortured and basically the Edward Cullen of the 90s and I get enough of the guilt-ridden hero thing from Oliver.”

Roy doesn’t know how to respond to this.

“Um… okay?”

“No, it’s not okay!” The anger she was feeling begins to make itself known. “I like Spike; I _love_ Spike! And getting this emotional over Angel feels like a betrayal, but oh my god… Buffy… _every time_ my heart just breaks for her!”

“Every time? How many times have you watched this show?”

“I think this is my seventh re-watch.”

“You’ve seen this seven times and you’re still acting like this?”

“It’s Joss Whedon. He does this. He fucks with you and breaks your heart and is only happy when you’re miserable.”

Roy thinks. He's heard that name before. “He’s the _Avengers_ guy, right?”

Even though they’re still glossy with tears, Felicity rolls her eyes.

“Before that he was the creator of cult TV shows and had a reputation as one of the most feminist showrunners in Hollywood.” Again, she sounds a little angry, maybe a bit annoyed. 

Roy is getting confused. What does the _Avengers_ guy being a feminist have to do with sending a vampire to hell?

“Uh… yeah.”

“He’s also known for killing beloved characters just as they reach a moment of happiness.” Now Felicity is sounding bitter.

“Well, that’s gotta suck.” Roy recognizes that she could be moving into her Loud Voice. He had better tread lightly around her and try not to set her off.

“Yes, it does suck! And I know Joyce is coming… oh, god, Joyce is going to _devastate_ me… and Tara! Fuck, what they do to Tara! And over on _Angel_ we have Wes and Fred and can’t they be given a fucking chance? And Wash… oh, I have _never_ gotten over Wash!”

Roy is slowly reaching for his phone. His plan is to text Diggle, finding out what he should do with a weeping and slightly pissy Felicity.

“And the fucking cookie dough speech? It’s like _make a fucking choice, Buffy!_ You got the guy who _left_ you, the guy who turns into a _monster_ if he sleeps with you—which is a really stupid curse, if you think about it—and back at home there’s Spike, the guy _who went and got a soul for you_! Who _always has your back_! That speech in _Touched_? If some guy said that to me I would do _whatever it takes_ to be with him!” 

“Wait… you mean Spike? Bad guy Spike? In love with Drusilla Spike?”

Roy is confused, but this time it isn’t about how to deal with Felicity. He knows who Spike is—the guy is kind of awesome, after all—but what she’s saying doesn’t make sense. Isn’t Spike’s whole thing supposed to be how he’s capable of loving Drusilla, even when she’s unfaithful to him? He frowns, realizing he’s overthinking a television show. _A television show_. Then he remembers Felicity’s face when Oliver and Sara were together and suddenly something becomes clear.

Felicity is kind of like Spike.

Felicity is the one who loves unconditionally, no matter what.

“So… Spike and Buffy hook up?” He decides to test his theory.

“ _Hook up_? ‘Hook up’ doesn’t even begin to describe it. First it was a crush that—okay, it was kind of a creepy obsessive stalker thing, but it was _so cute_ —then he keeps on saving and protecting Dawn. I mean, how could you _not_ love someone who takes care of your little sister?! And after Buffy dies, he _stays_ for Dawn. It’s not like there’s _anything_ in it for him, but he _stays_ and he _takes care of her_ because _he still loves Buffy_! While Angel goes to get in touch with his manpain in Tibet—now, doesn’t _that_ sound familiar?—Spike stays in Sunnydale, making sure all of Buffy’s friends stay safe, keeping up her mission _because he loves her_! And yeah, after Buffy comes back things get dark, but that’s because UPN allowed them to have more sexy scenes and Joss was off doing _Firefly_ and Marti apparently had some issues with a college boyfriend… _but then he fights for his soul_. So he can be _worthy_ of her. And that… that’s what a true hero does; someone worthy of Buffy.”

Felicity’s voice has gone quiet. Roy wants to ask who the hell she’s talking about—who are Dawn and Marti again? And what’s this about Buffy _dying_? And he tries to process what he’s heard with what he knows—Angel is Buffy’s One True Love, but apparently he leaves and does time in Tibet and Spike stays and does all this shit for her, and are they getting confused or something? Spike sounds like the good guy.

Then the realization hits.

Felicity _is_ Spike.

And even though he apparently does Angel’s manpain schtick, Oliver _is_ Buffy.

And that Laurel girl—gorgeous Laurel, as Felicity calls her—she’s the Angel in the scenario.

Roy comes to see he’s had his biggest mind-blowing understanding of a television show ever in this moment, in how relevant it is to his life. He puts the phone he’s still holding down on the coffee table, and sits staring at the Netflix screen.

Then something else occurs to him.

Wait…

If Diggle is Giles…

And if Dawn is Buffy’s sister, like Felicity is saying, then Thea’s the Dawn...

He thinks for a minute. 

Then has another insight to his team and _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_.

Is _he_ the Xander?

Shit. He really needs to stop watching TV with Felicity.

It makes him think too much.

 

 


End file.
